To Heal a Broken Heart
by radiance x
Summary: Ellie tries to help an angsty Spinner. Or at least get him out of her house. SpinEl friendship, hints to something more. PostLove My Way.


**Here We Go**

A/N: Spinner and Ellie have a late night conversation over their respective love lives. Mostly friendship, a little flirting. I was still in a Degrassi zone and this is the product. Lemme know if I wrote Spinner right.

Warnings: Lots of dialogue (but I like it that way!), language, and it gets a little cliché at the end. Also, spoilers for _Love My _Way. And I feel like it's a little bit anti-Spaige. You be the judge.

Reviews, as always, are appreciated.

000

It was late. Marco was making his way up the stairs as Ellie was making her way down, an empty coffee mug in hand.

"You've been working on that paper all night?" he asked, and she nodded, heavy-lidded and zombie-like.

"And, how's it coming?"

She put two fingers to her head and pulled the fake trigger.

"Aw, sorry," Marco said, patting her shoulder sympathetically. "Oh, hey, while you're down here," – his voice lowered significantly – "can you kindly kick Spinner out?"

"He's _still_ here?" she whispered loudly. "Please tell me he's not waiting for Paige to get home."

Marco just shrugged. "No idea. But I'm beat. Goodnight."

"Night," she echoed, before heading into the kitchen and refilling on coffee.

She spotted Spinner sitting on the couch, digging through a partially empty bag of potato chips. She grimaced in disgust at the level of pathetic he had sunk to.

"Hey, Spinner," she called. "Want any coffee?"

"No, thanks," he mumbled.

She sighed. This was going to take some actual effort. She headed into the living room.

"You know, Paige probably isn't going to be home tonight."

"Yeah," he said bitterly, putting down the bag of chips. "Too busy doing god knows what with _Jesse_."

Ellie froze. "Don't remind me."

Spinner looked at her. "Oh. I forgot. Sorry."

"It's okay," she said, placing her mug on the coffee table, and sitting down next to him. She tried to find a way to put it gently, but ended up just blurting it out. "You need to get over it."

"Uh, excuse me?"

Ellie bit her lip. "I mean, you need to move on. You and Paige had your run. It's over, done."

"Well, I really don't need your input, okay?" he snapped.

She tried to find a way to put it in terms he'd understand. "It'd be like Sean and I getting back together." Whoa, she hadn't thought about Sean in ages. But that was opening up a whole new load of emotional baggage. "It'd be like. . . Marco going back in the closet. Wrong. And just not going to happen."

"Do you have to be so brutal?" he asked and she thought about it for a minute.

"Yes. Because no one else is willing to tell you the truth. You're sitting here sulking on a Saturday night, letting the image of Paige and Jesse together burn a hole into your brain."

"So, is that why you're doing homework on a Saturday night? To try to take your mind off of it?"

"No."

"I think you're lying."

"I thought we were talking about your problem."

"No, _you _were talking about my problem."

Ellie sighed. "Are you in love with Paige?"

He didn't skip a beat. "Maybe. Are you in love with Jesse?"

She hesitated. "Maybe."

"What if they actually start, you know, getting serious about each other?"

Ellie turned away, but recovered quickly. "I doubt that."

"Why? Anything's possible."

"Jesse's just an experiment for her – plus, Alex calls like all the time. She's got options. And it's probably just a vindictive way to get back at me, anyways."

"Get back at you for what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know – whatever she's got against me. You know Paige and me. Always sworn enemies."

He laughed. "Sworn? Really?"

"Shut up."

"Aren't you college kids supposed to be past the high school bullshit anyways?" he asked.

"We are. I think." Then it dawns on her. "Is that what the Paige thing is about?"

He glanced at her, confused. "What?"

"Trying to relive some of the high school glory."

"Uh, FYI, dude, I'm still inhigh school."

"Yeah," Ellie agreed, "but it's nothing like the old days. You know, you and Paige – the perfect couple; you and Jimmy – the unstoppable duo."

"I think that last one's still true."

"Okay. But do you get what I'm saying?"

"Kind of," he said, reluctantly.

"It's okay to want to relive some of the past. But you can't let it consume you. Trust me, I know."

He looked at her quizzically. "What do you want to relive?"

"Maybe not relive. More like. . . redo."

He nodded. "You mean Craig?"

"How did you . . . what would make you say that?" she asked, shocked.

"You kinda had it bad for the dude. We all knew."

"It's just hard. Craig. . . and Jesse. I don't know, it's complicated," she said, waving her hands in dismissal.

"Well, it looks like I'm not the only one with issues," he said, smiling. "Makes me feel loads better."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Makes me feel like shit."

He chuckled. "Sorry."

She patted his knee. "That's okay."

He watched her hand move from his knee, and then eyed her skeptically.

"What?"

"Was that a move? Are you _hitting_ on me?"

She laughed humorlessly. "Oh, God, you've _got _to be kidding me."

"That was a total move. You _want _me."

"In your dreams, Gavin."

"Hey, I'm not the one trying to take advantage of you."

"Wow, you saw right through my ulterior motives."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Please, I'd never hit on you," she said, with a tiny smile.

He tickled her sides and she squealed. "Oh, you want to say that to my face?"

"Stop it!" she said, smacking his hands away. One slipped and nailed Spinner right in nose.

"Ow!"

"That did not hurt, you big baby."

"Yes, it did."

"Serves you right," she said. "Keep your hands to yourself."

"Fine. Geez. Ellie Nash, cold hard bitch."

"Maybe."

"You're pretty good at the pep talk thing, though, you know?" he said, a moment later.

She smiled proudly. "I know."

"Hug it out?" he asked, open arms and all.

She stared. "Uh, no."

"Why not?" he asked.

"You might get the misconception that I'm coming onto you."

"I won't, I swear. I'll just think you're a tiny bit hot for me."

She rolled her eyes for the hundredth time and leaned into him, letting him wrap his arms around her. She wrapped his arms around him, too, despite the reluctance.

"Now, I have to get some sleep," she said when they pull apart. "And you should, too. I swear, if I find you in this same spot tomorrow morning, I'll do some_ real_ damage to that nose of yours."

She picked up her mug and stood.

"Hey, we should do this again," Spinner suggested, not even sure what his mouth was saying before his brain could process it.

"What, angst over our pathetic love lives?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

She thought about it for a moment, and then looked at him with an unsure smile. "Okay. Sounds good, I guess."

She sipped her now nearly cold coffee and headed out of the room, glancing back once to look at Spinner.

END


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